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Savoury Omelet

A quick omelet made with eggs, parsley, shallot, ham, and bacon fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Savoury Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Work the yolks of the eggs well and mix in parsley, shallot, ham, pepper, and salt.

  2. Whip the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the yolk mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat the bacon fat in an omelet pan until very hot.

  2. Pour in the mixture and stir gently for five seconds.

  3. As it begins to set, fold the omelet towards the handle of the pan and tilt the pan.

  4. When firm underneath, place the pan under the grill to brown the top.

  5. Serve very hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Shallot + hamtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites add lightness and structure, while the yolks enrich the omelet and help it set.
Bacon fat
Heats the pan and gives a rich, savory flavor while keeping the omelet from sticking.
Cooked ham
Adds savory, salty flavor and chew to the filling.
Shallot
Adds a mild, aromatic onion flavor to the egg mixture.

The step that matters

Fold the whites gently into the yolk mixture. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the omelet its lift. Heavy stirring knocks that air out, leaving a dense, flat omelet.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parsley, ham, pepper):

  1. Carrotfits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotthe original
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, ham, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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